There's Not a Tea for Every Situation
by FictionIsSocialInquiry
Summary: 'Zuko scrunches his uncle's letter — the words "tea to relieve a woman's irritability and anxiety during pregnancy" wrinkling with mirth — and resolves to send a warning memo ahead of his wife to each of her meetings.' Zuko tries to teabend Katara's pregnancy blues away feat. Help From Iroh.


**There's Not a Tea for Every Situation**

 **Disclaimer: Iroh and I ain't any sort of medical professional. In fact, I'm pretty sure jasmine tea is** _ **not**_ **okay during pregnancy. Lucky we're here in the world of fiction where Zuko is freaking out about fatherhood so… roll with my amateur homeopathy, guys. * author begs ***

* * *

 _ginger tea_

'…aids the digestion process and eases nausea and stomach issues,' Zuko reads, scanning the instructions — advice — at the bottom of the letter.

Katara doesn't have high hopes for the swirl of bile at the base of her throat. 'Alright, alright. Just give me the damn tea.'

Zuko hands it to her, reciting now from a botanical book borrowed from the Royal Library. 'Ginger is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual metre long pseudo stems bearing narrow leaves. The inflorescences bear pale yellow—'

'Zuko.'

'It's not the planty bit, though, in the tea! It's the rhizome that—'

'Zuko.'

He closes the book. 'Uncle said three cups a day should help the…' He gestures to his mouth, swallowing.

The first sip reminds Katara precisely why she should have continued insisting on making her own tea. Or at least let the servants brew it for her. 'Sweet Moon and Ocean! What is this?!'

'Ginger tea,' the Fire Lord yells back, mostly in fright. His wife is now once again bent over the basin, revisiting breakfast thanks to a tea that is supposed to have the _opposite_ effect. 'It's ginger tea! It's meant to help the morning sickness!'

Katara replies with a dainty retch.

 _lemon balm tea_

'Are you feeling calm yet?'

'If you ask me that _one more time_ I'm going to _show_ you just how _calm_ this tea is making me!'

Zuko scrunches his uncle's letter — the words ' _relieves a woman's irritability and anxiety during pregnancy_ ' wrinkling with mirth — and resolves to send a warning memo ahead of his wife to each of her meetings.

 _chamomile tea_

'Are you asleep?' the whisper — somewhere down by his collarbone — hisses against the itch of exhaustion holding closed his eyes.

He grunts his response.

'Is that a yes?' the hopeful voice asks, planting a splayed hand against his chest.

'Mm.'

'I like this tea, the chamomile one. Can we write to your uncle for more?'

The Fire Lord has to be on the docks at dawn tomorrow — later today? — to welcome the Earth King's delegates. 'Now, my love?'

'I'll get the parchment!'

Her weight disappears from the bed and Zuko rolls over. 'Drowzy tea,' he scoffs into the pillow. 'Right.'

 _jasmine tea_

The closer they crawl to forty weeks, the calmer Katara becomes (no thanks to the teas) and the more anxious and worked up her husband becomes. It comes to a head one day when he yells at Minister Shang for ' _breathing like a shirshu_ ,' burns down an ornamental pear in the gardens when his secretary startles him, and makes one of Katara's ladies-in-waiting cry when the girl accidently orders his wife her least favourite dumplings for lunch.

'You need to get a grip,' Katara tells him flatly. For a woman swollen to bursting, her grip doesn't make him wince any less than when she was at full strength. 'Your uncle is arriving this afternoon and if you yell at him too, I'm going to name the baby Sokka.'

'You wouldn't.'

'Try me.'

They glare at one another for a beat before Zuko sighs, shoulders slumping. 'Fine. I'll… relax.'

His wife snorts (the resemblance to her brother telling) and releases him to pour them both a cup of tea from the pot before her. 'Drink this, it should help.'

It's jasmine, he spent enough time in teashops with his uncle to identify the old man's favourite brew. The aroma of the flowers rises with the steam, it delights his taste buds and gently soothes the anxious dread that has taken up residence in his gut. A little. It's good tea, almost as good as Uncle's.

'It's good tea, better than Uncle's.'

Though her eyes dance, he knows she sees his white lie. 'It's all in the brewing, my love.'

* * *

 **Teabending for the 2018 Zutara Week prompt "tea." I so empathise with Iroh's tea obsession in the show and my own tea collection is getting ridiculous (no one woman needs four different types of green tea… said someone other than myself because** _ **everyone should have multiple flavours of tea dammit**_ **). I fully endorse an exploratory tea palate.**


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